The Internet, and particularly the Worldwide Web, has caused a virtual information explosion. An average user, making use of a conventional web browser, now has available to him a mass of information that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. This includes information available from professional and commercial sources, individuals, and message boards or forums, where users “congregate” to discuss every imaginable topic, and some that are not. With the wealth of information that is available, a new problem has arisen: How can that information be found?
This problem has been addressed by a plethora of “search engines”, which are software programs and information systems that are specifically designed to assist users in finding information. While existing search engines have been adequate, they are limited in their ability to uncover useful information when users are searching. The primary reason is that search engines tend to be language based, and a searcher is not always familiar with the common terminology in his field of search. Also, there may be useful information available which does not conform to the common terminology. It also takes substantial skill or experience to formulate queries that will produce meaningful results.
In accordance with the present invention, search results are achieved that are broader and more intelligent than basic keyword searching. This is achieved by imposing a structure on data being searched and utilizing the same structure for search queries. Relevant information is then uncovered by correlating the structure of the data being searched and the structure of the query. Items to be searched can include anything: messages, discussions, articles, polls, transcripts, or anything else that can be linked to or pulled from a database. Search results can be included that are less than 100% relevant, and not just 100% relevant. In the absence of, or in addition to, results that would be generated by a Boolean keyword-only-search, users can retrieve results of some relevance, for example as determined by a set of selectable filter criteria. Consequently, merchants can sell inventory which might otherwise be unseen and/or users can find information which might otherwise stay hidden in an overly strict Boolean search.
The method of the present invention is the glue that holds online speakers together as they seek to use the Worldwide Web to communicate as they do in life. It lets users speak without seeing the spam that fills most message boards; allows interesting conversations to take place without interruption; and gives users the anonymity to talk candidly without fear that their identities may be revealed.
Where message board sites or forums are concerned, the present invention transforms ordinary sites into profitable “para-sites.” Para-sites are sites that feed off the work of their own users. A para-site powered by the present invention collects interesting, relevant information by harnessing users to post and organize content, at no cost to the site-operator. Methods and systems embodying the present invention will hereafter be referred to by use of the assignee's trademark TRANSPARENSEE™. Users find sites stickier than other sites because of the high quality of information generated by the present invention. Site owners can restrict access to this information in different ways, allowing the most valuable information to be repackaged and resold to different markets at different price points.
As repositories of filtered information, TRANSPARENSEE™ sites attract users with specific interests. Users who speak intelligently about subjects they know soon find that their opinions on that subject carry more weight—and are heard by more people—than the opinions of others. The weight given to a particular user's thoughts on a subject is quantified as the user's “reputation” for knowing that subject.
TRANSPARENSEE™ sites allow users to develop and maintain complex, multi-variable reputations for a wide variety of different subjects. As users develop high reputations for knowing a particular subject, they gain privileges on the site as a result; as they gain privileges, their investment in the site grows. High-reputation users become reluctant to move conversations off-site because, by leaving, they'll lose the benefits they've gained as high-reputation users.
As a result, high-reputation users tend to remain on TRANSPARENSEE™ sites, and communities develop. These communities are deeply rooted in the site due to the investments their members have made by building reputations. For this reason, community members (and communities) cannot easily be lured away to non-TRANSPARENSEE™ sites.
A sticky community of experts sharing information in a highly accessible way attracts new users. New users generate content, develop reputations, and become community members, thus adding to the attractive pull of the community.
These network effects feed upon themselves, building small communities into large ones. The larger a community grows, the more information it has under discussion, the greater the number and expertise of its users, and the stronger a pull it exerts on new members. When a community grows large enough and vibrant enough, it becomes the only logical place for a new user to go in order to learn about or discuss a subject.
Because the present invention makes it easier for people to communicate, sites that use the present invention quickly attract users. As these users gain reputations they develop into communities that are hard to displace. Network effects cause these communities to grow quickly. Taken together, this means that the first company to use the reputation feature of the present invention in any particular market has a substantial first-mover advantage. The bulk of users in that market will end up on TRANSPARENSEE™ sites, and will form deep-rooted communities TRANSPARENSEE™ site reputations are portable. Reputation values are stored at and administered from a central location, allowing users to carry their reputations with them from TRANSPARENSEE™ site to TRANSPARENSEE™ site. In other embodiments, reputation values are stored in a partly or wholly distributed fashion.
As the number of TRANSPARENSEE™ sites grows, the company's proprietary database of reputations also grows. When this database has reached a critical mass it will have tremendous value. Companies that choose to power their sites with the present invention will automatically become members of the TRANSPARENSEE™ Network, allowing them access to a large user base of individuals who may start using their pre-built reputations on the new site right away.
By allowing Web-site operators to inexpensively gather and distribute “insider speech,” the present invention fills a demand which, though strong, has not been met by any other product. The invention is equally unique in the way that it allows licensees to precisely target users based on detailed information without invading their individual privacy.
The present invention provides several immediate benefits. It promotes the disclosure of superior information, then ranks and organizes that information in a way that allows it to be easily packaged and sold to different audiences at different price points. It makes sites stickier while at the same time allowing licensees to provide advertisers with far more narrowly targeted advertisements than they otherwise could, substantially increasing advertising revenues. And it allows companies to lessen (or eliminate) the cost of hiring moderators to monitor online discussion.